The Urizar Articles

By Paolo Urizar

March '05

This column's intentions were originally to cover the free-ride scene in Chicago, and locations around the Midwest.  There is currently a website up dedicated to this already and thankfully gaining more notoriety each month.   The members of that site, its organization in Chicago, and the people who support that site are bringing up a great image of what the scene is really about.  I've decided that out of due respect to that effort coupled with their ability to demonstrate what the scene is about (in far more detail than I give in a written column) to offer a link.  Please go to the following site to read up, see images of, and even videos of the exploits of free-riders in the urban goodness that is Chicago done proper-like.

http://www.chicagofreeride.com

I will keep the Urizar Chronicles up as I will write about my very own chronicles in my effort to compete at minimum 9 MTB races this year.   One of which is a 12 hour race, a first for me.   A day after my birthday (December 27th), I went down to Yojimbo's Garage on Chicago's Northside (www.yojimbosgarage.com).  I had heard about an amateur racing club in Chicago initiated upon the efforts from this particular shop.  The team had a great standing in the Chicago community and the individuals seemed to operate animatedly and adamantly about their team.  I went to Yojimbo's Garage to sign myself up to become part of that racing team, XXX Racing Athletico (www.xxxracing.org).   The team has had considerable notoriety as of late because of the excitement of one of their alums heading into cycling stardom (http://www.xxxracing.org/Team-News-17.html).  This is a team with a good share of experienced elite riders mixed in with novice riders and amateur pros looking to advance their riding skills.  It is exciting because it is a homegrown Chicago created community (estimated team membership is above 100 members) that not only does team races but promotes cycling throughout the Chicago community.  The team effort is admirable in and of itself; the benefit of having a professional coach (http://www.xxxracing.org/Team-News-13.html) and professional sponsorship is a bonus.  The team is sponsored by Yojimbo's Garage, Clif Bars, and Athletico (just to name a few of the sponsors).  The team has a variety of disciplines to train for such as track cycling, mountain biking, and road racing and all with opportunities to race at your ability.  The team provides the structure and the clinics available only to its members to enhance your ability and skill level in the cycling sport.  Having a professional coach helps guide the decision making process by planning out a healthy and competitive schedule while providing the tools and training methods to help you complete those goals.

I have created my schedule for this year and the first race is in May, afterwards I have 8 races up until and including the race on August 6th, which is my ultimate race goal for the season.  My personal goal is the 12 Hours of Palos race in which I'll be racing in a team effort with my good friend, Jeff Roberts, who also joined XXX Racing to see what competition he enjoys in the cycling field.  Jeff completed the Wisconsin Ironman competition in Madison last fall and finished strongly.  He and I are keeping each other motivated to tackle the season and to learn about performing competitively and consistently.  A race that requires cycling for upwards of 12 hours is definitely something that requires intensive but realistic training to improve performance safely.  I'm actually getting into competitive cycling for the first time, but I am not a novice to hard training for sports. When I went to a team meeting January about goal settings, I had to figure out my long term, midterm, and short-term goals.  I have made my long- term goal to get into the best cycling shape possible this year to enter 2006 in excellent form and attempt longer MTB endurance races. This year I will compete in at least 9 races leading to and even after the 12 Hours of Palos.

During these chronicles, I will be letting you know how I'm training and noticing what has and hasn't worked.  It will be purely objective and not endorsing any one way over any other.  The idea is that I lend you my experience and regardless what you do with it, it is purely to let you know what and how I'm doing things and whether the races show improvement throughout the season.  Since I am writing this column, I have injected myself with even more motivation to provide you with positive notes from the field, the race events, and the team.  I will be actively reviewing my own equipment and new additions to my bikes as I learn what I like and don't like about them as my skills progress and as the races and mileage get longer.  I'll take into account other routines that I'll have that contribute to the team or into cycling overall.  I will be providing my race reports to the team on their site but will give a different report here as to what I've learned up to that race and where I have noticed the most improvement; it'll be an online journal of the successes achieved and lessons learned.

It is February and it is still frigid in Chicago.  There was one weekend of reprieve when the weather was perfect for outdoor play (50 degrees!) but not since then have we felt the warmth of the sun.  Despite the temperature outside I have to find the motivation and gumption to at least ride a few times outside a week to complement base mileage training.  Right now I have to start adding time to the saddle to gear up to a good start to the season in May.  The training for now is adding and increasing my weekly mileage slowly to build a strong base for the actual performance training during the racing season.  This will help me avoid injury and unnecessary pain putting off training until the weather warms up in Chicago.  Since my overall goal is to be in the best shape possible for a successful 2006 year in endurance events, I have to treat this entire year as base mileage and experience for the next year.   I have an indoor trainer to achieve the base mileage effort.  It is aptly placed in front of the DVD player as it can be quite a bore to sit in your own living room when you year to ride the road and trail.  I find a strange comfort going to the gym just because the windows to the gym overlook a very cold sky.  I have to complete at least 7-10 miles a week minimum and start the habit of working out to keep a core routine consistent to be effective.  I'm trying not to think too hard about nutrition, but am thinking of the obvious and simple methods.  Eat well and eat healthy will be the motto as far as my own diet is concerned.  I have competed enough in other sports to get the feel for what diet I should have to be healthily competitive and I'll stick to that knowledge and pick up a few new ideas as I train.  I want to compete at the best level that I'll feel comfortable with and when I feel ready to change habits completely to achieve changing goals, then I will.

I have a road bike that is my trainer, commuter, and cross-bike all in one.  It is a Surly Cross Check built out to be a solid lightweight but durable workhorse.  I am sold on the feel of a steel road frame, especially in the city streets of Chicago.  This bike will accompany me on many miles of this journey and even compete in the cyclocross events at the end of this year at the Chicago CycloCross Cup Race series (www.chicrosscup.com).  My mountain bike is a Gary Fisher Paragon outfitted nicely to accommodate both strength and durability before lightweight function.  This I feel is a necessary item to keep consistent in my articles to not heavily endorse any one particular item as its not the parts that I'm interested in but the conditioning that will take those two wheels across the finish line.  Through experience I'm sure I'll learn what I like and don't like about my equipment and make appropriate changes for the right reasons.  That is one thing that I'll surely be following up and that is the amount of financial effort that goes into being this involved in a racing atmosphere.  The races themselves cost money to compete in; the maintenance costs, the equipment costs, the training costs all go into consideration of what it takes to make it a successful year.  The reward I feel will surely be worth it; as an added bonus, some races are like mini vacations as they're far enough away to warrant weekend getaways from the daily grind.  Training for these races will also be fun as I'll be able to document resources and images for others who are in the Midwest and are looking for the training circuits and routines nearby their area.  There are MTB advocacy groups that exist from the Chicagoland area and throughout the Midwest.  Groups such as Illinois MTB (www.illinoismtb.com) and the Chicago Area Mountan Bikers (www.cambr.org) advocate new trails, preserve existing trails, and maintain an online community for mountain bikers in the Midwest.  I do love Chicago; however, I am grateful to have friends on both coasts to visit and enjoy their mountain bike experiences as well.  I especially enjoy going to the East Coast to catch up on riding in actual mountains and getting substantial views and workouts.  These trips will also be documented along the way.

This is only the beginning.  As the snow gently falls on Chicago, the aspiration of competing and getting to a whole new fitness level is a good way to head into the early spring.  It's a boring chore being indoors on a trainer, and I'm not much of a gym rat either.  I yearn for the sunny sky to open up and give me at least a dry road to ride down on.  If it's warm where you are, get out there and ride!  If its cold or worse, I sympathize completely as the first and utmost challenge is to simply get out there and put the miles in on a cold and unwelcoming day.

See you next month when it's 5 degrees warmer.